Asia Tech Wire (July 16) -- SK Innovation and SK E&S, the two energy arms of SK Group, will discuss a merger on Wednesday, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily.

SK Innovation said it is studying various options such as a merger in order to strengthen its competitiveness.

Discussions on the merger will take place at Wednesday's board meeting, the company said.

The merger is partly targeting to shore up SK Innovation's loss-making battery manufacturing unit SK On, a report said last month.

And a merger of the two companies would create an energy giant with assets of more than 100 trillion won ($72 billion), according to the report.